The present invention relates to star polymer nanoshells and methods of preparation thereof, and more specifically to star polymers comprising gold, silica, or iron oxide in a peripheral shell, and a cargo material occluded in a core region of the star polymer.
Recently, nanoparticles of increasingly complex composition, structure and function have been developed for a wide range of applications such as bio-sensing, drug delivery, intracellular imaging and therapeutics. These include, for example, organic nanoparticles such as dendrimers, inorganic nanoparticles such as silica or transition metal-containing nanoparticles and nanoparticles comprised of composite materials. However, it is a challenge to construct structurally complex inorganic nanoparticles having an average particle diameter below 100 nanometers, and a low polydispersity.
Deposition of silica onto small nanoparticle templates has been used to produce nanoscale core shell structures. Templates include gold nanoparticles, inorganic quantum dots, or organic polymers to produce core shell structures, but nucleation sites must be incorporated onto the surface of these templates for the silica to grow and any optical properties produced are constrained to those of the nucleating template.
Additional methods and materials are needed for preparing nanoparticles comprising silicon and/or other inorganic materials, including metals.